MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 Department of Media, Culture, and Communication New York University Amateur Media Course Description: This course will track the various manifestations of media amateurism over time and medium, while also exploring theoretical concerns and cultural discourses that surround their work and social construction, especially in relation to notions of professionalism, community, networks, artistic practice, collectivism, and marginalization. Objectives o Students will compare and critique the terms “amateur” and “professional” and track how they change in different institutional, cultural and historical contexts. o Students will evaluate and critique historical and theoretical writings on amateur work. o Students will analyze concepts such as community, networks, and collectivism. o Students will compare and analyze the history of the amateur in relation to different media forms such as radio, photography, zines, blogs, film, video, and digital technology. o Students will come to explain and evaluate amateurism in the current media and cultural environment. Grading Breakdown Paper #1 (2-­‐3 pages) 20% Research Proposal (2-­‐3 pages) 10% Paper #2 (2-­‐3 pages) 20% Final Research Paper (10-­‐12 pages) 30% 20% Participation & Attendance 100% A A-­‐ B+ B B– C+ C C– D+ D F 100-­‐94 93-­‐90 89-­‐
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<63 87 84 80 77 74 70 67 64 Course Policies ATTENDANCE: More than two unexcused absences will automatically result in a lower grade. Chronic lateness will also be reflected in your participation grade. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Please refer to the Steinhardt’s official statement on academic dishonesty and plagiarism: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/policies/academic_integrity 1 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 The Steinhardt School Statement on Academic Integrity is consistent with the New York University Policy on Student Conduct, published in the NYU Student Guide. FORMAT: Please type, double-­‐space, and paginate all written work. Unless otherwise noted, all assignments should be submitted electronically in DOC or PDF format. File names should follow the format: Lastname_MCA2015. You are free to use any citation style (Chicago, MLA, etc) provided you use it consistently. LATE WORK: All assignments must be submitted electronically by 11:59pm on the date indicated on the syllabus. Any deadline changes will be announced in class and posted on the course website. Extensions must be requested at least 48 hours before a given deadline and will be granted at the discretion of the instructor. GRADE APPEALS: If you feel that your grade on an assignment or exam does not accurately reflect your performance you may submit to your instructor via email a short but considered paragraph detailing your concerns. Based on this paragraph your grade may either be augmented or you will be provided with additional explanation for lost points. CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE: Laptops and tablets are permitted in the classroom provided that they are used solely for course-­‐related purposes. When laptops are not in use their screens should be lowered. Resources for Students Moses Center for Students with Disabilities 726 Broadway, 2nd Floor, (212) 998-­‐4980 http://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-­‐health-­‐andwellness/students-­‐with-­‐disabilities.html Students with physical or learning disabilities are required to register with the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities and present a letter from the Center to the instructor at the start of the semester in order to be considered for appropriate accommodation. Writing Center 411 Lafayette, 3rd Floor, (212) 998-­‐8866 email: [email protected] schedule an appointment online at: https://nyu.mywconline.com/ Student Health Center (SHC) 726 Broadway, 3rd and 4th Floors, (212) 443-­‐1000 SHC provides comprehensive medical services to meet all your health and mental health needs. 2 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 Week 1 Course Schedule
Dates/Deadlines 2 Readings & Assignments September 3 September 8 September 10 3 September 15 September 17 4
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✜ Course Introduction ✜
✜ Amateurs vs. Professionals ✜
Broderick Fox, “Rethinking the Amateur,” Spectator 21, no. 1 (Spring 2004), 5-­‐16. Patricia Zimmerman, “Pleasure or Money: Professionalism and the Economy,” Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995), 1-­‐11. David Buckingham, Maria Pini and Rebekah Willett, “‘Take back the tube!’: The Discursive Construction of Amateur Film and Video Making,” Journal of Media Practice 8, no. 2 (2007), 183-­‐201. Patricia Zimmerman, “Entrepreneurs, Artists, Hobbyists, and Workers,” Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995), 12-­‐55. September 22 ✜ Photography: Victorian Amateurs ✜
Grace Sieberling, Amateurs, Photography, and the Mid-­‐Victorian Imagination (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), [excerpts]. Jennifer Tucker, Nature Exposed: Photography as Eyewitness in Victorian Science (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), [excerpts]. September 24 September 29 FIELD TRIP: Research Methods for Media Research ✜ Amateur Media and the Archive ✜
Please note special meeting location on 9/29: The Paley Cnd
enter for Media 25 West 52 Street 3 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 6
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October 1 Patricia Zimmermann, “Morphing History into Histories: From Amateur Film to the Archive of the Future,” The Moving Image, 1, no. 1 (Spring 2001), 108-­‐130. October 6 FIELD TRIP TO BOBST LIBRARY On Tuesday October 6, we will meet with Reference Librarian Alexandra M. Ducett for an introduction to NYU library resources and research practices in media and communication studies. Paper #1 due October 8 October 13 NO CLASS October 15 8
October 20 ✜ Photography: the Snapshot & Aesthetic Practice ✜
Marc Olivier, “George Eastman’s Modern Stone-­‐
Age Family: Snapshot Photography and the Brownie,” Technology and Culture 48, no. 1 (January 2007), 1-­‐19. Deborah Willis, “A Search for Self: The Photograph and Black Family Life,” in The Familial Gaze, ed. Marianne Hirsch (Dartmouth: University of New England Press, 1999), 107-­‐123. Pierre Bourdieu, Photography: A Middle-­‐brow Art, trans. Shaun Whiteside (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), [excerpts]. ✜ Photography: Memory & Community ✜
Marita Sturken, “The Image as Memorial: Personal Photographs in Cultural Memory,” in The Familial Gaze, ed. Marianne Hirsch (Dartmouth: University of New England Press, 1999), 178-­‐195. John Stotesbury, “Time, History, Memory: Photographic Life Narratives and the Albums of Strangers,” in Temporalities, Autobiography, and Everyday Life, ed. Janet Harbord and Jan Campbell (Machester University press, 2002), 193-­‐203. ✜ Film: Hollywood Outsiders ✜
Anne More, “Fashioning the Self to Fashion the Film: The Case of the Palmer Photoplay Corporation,” Hollywood Outsiders: The Adaptation of the Film Industry, 1913-­‐1934 (University of Minnesota Press, 2005). 4 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 Heather Norris Nicholson, “‘As if by Magic’: Authority, Aesthetics, and Visions of the Workplace in Home Movies, circa 1931-­‐1949,” in Mining the Home Movie: Excavations in Histories and Memories, ed. Karen Ishizuka and Patricia Zimmermann (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 214-­‐230. Patricia Zimmerman, “Professional Results with Amateur Ease: 1923-­‐1940,” Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995), 56-­‐142. October 22 9
October 27 ✜ Home Movies ✜
Paper #2 due October 29 10
November 3 Patricia Zimmerman, “Cameras and Guns: 1941-­‐
1949” and “Do-­‐It-­‐Yourself: 1950-­‐1962,” Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995), 90-­‐142. Home Movies from the Prelinger Archives: https://archive.org/details/prelingerhomemovies screening: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco 7 (Rick Prelinger, 2010) Home Movie Presentations
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November 10 Research proposal due November 12 13 November 17 ✜ Video: Guerilla, Alternative, and Vigilante ✜
Deirdre Boyle, Subject to Change: Guerilla Television Revisited (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), [excerpts]. Jesse Drew, “The Collective Camcorder in Art and Activism,” in Collectivism After Modernism: The Art of Social Imagination After 1945, ed. Blake Stimson and Gregory Sholette (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 95-­‐113. M. Becker and G. Carroll, “Video Vigilantes,” Newsweek 118, issue 4 (July 22, 1991). ✜ Home Movies and Documentary Film ✜ 5 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 M. and D. Orgeron, “Familial Pursuits, Editorial Acts: Documentaries after the Age of Home Video,” The Velvet Light Trap no. 60 (Fall 2007), 47-­‐62. Ruth Balint, “Representing the Past and the Meaning of Home Péter Forgács’ Private Hungary,” in Amateur Filmmaking: The Home Movie, the Archive, the Web, ed. Laura Rascaroli et al (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), 193-­‐206. November 19 14 Screening: Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2008) Screening: El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War (Péter Forgács, 2005) November 24 ✜ Zines ✜
NO CLASS 15 December 1 December 3 16 17 December 8 December 10 December 15 Research paper due Sheila Liming, “Of Anarchy and Amateurism: Zine Publication and Print Dissent.” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 43, no. 2 (Fall 2010): 121-­‐145. Stephen Duncombe, Notes from the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Microcosm Pulishing, 2008), [excerpts]. ✜ Technologies of the Self and Digital DIY ✜ Andreas Kitzmann, Saved from Oblivion: Documenting the Daily from Diaries to Webcams (Peter Lang, 2004), [excerpts]. Additional readings TBA ✜ Amateur versus Professional Journalism ✜
Dan Gillmor, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the Media, for the People (O’Reilly Media, 2006), [excerpts]. Additional readings TBA ✜Amateur Media: Past, Present, and Future ✜
Readings TBA 6 MCC-­‐UE 1024-­‐001 7